Weekly Lancer Notes: "O'Brien Makes Quiet Impact For Volleyball Team"

Make no mistake, the O’Brien sisters are identical twins and without Vicki highlighting her hair, you probably can’t tell one from the other. It’s been quite some time now that both girls have been causing teachers, relatives and friends problems, but with Vicki coming to Worcester State to play volleyball and Laura off to get her education at UMass Amherst; it will be the first time the pair will be apart from one another.

“It’s just a weird feeling,” said Vicki. “When we were together, we made every decision together whether it was what we should wear, judging how we looked (before leaving the house) or making the choice of where to go.

“Having a twin is like having a best friend who you can tell anything and you won’t be judged about your hair or your outfit. After a volleyball match we would tell each other what we were doing wrong or hitting at the right angle. We really motivated one another on and off the court.”

But with modern technology, the duo has found the transition an easy one.  

“We text or call each other every day,” said Vicki. “We also sometimes talk on Skype or on Facebook. During the preseason, while she was still at home, I asked her for advice and we have been able to catch up.”

When she was looking at schools in her senior year of high school, Vicki originally was thinking about going to WPI to be a chemistry teacher and play volleyball, but after a campus tour and talking with a couple of students, she got the impression that it might be too much for her to handle.

“It was a very intense atmosphere and it seemed like there was a lot of pressure,” said Vicki. “I really wasn’t crazy about the seven week term system because I wanted to give myself time to study at my own pace. I thought it might be a little overwhelming.”

It was then that Vicki decided to look at Worcester State, which was pretty close by. After walking around, she fell in love with the campus.  She enjoyed the small campus feel and she liked the fact that the dorms were in close proximity to the academic buildings. It was as though everyone really liked attending Worcester State and that was one of the biggest draws.

“I got to talk with some professors in the chemistry department and they were the ones that convinced me to come here,” said Vicki. ”With the Worcester Consortium, I can take classes for credit at WPI if I want to. The teachers I spoke with told me that we would be getting new equipment that no other state school had either.”

But Laura had other plans. The younger sister wanted to go to school at UMass Amherst to pursue her degree in Business. Laura and Vicki are originally from Canton and a lot of their friends were either already there or had plans to go to school UMass Amherst.

“She’s the kind of person that is good at convincing people why they should buy something, “said Vicki. “She is a very determined and persistent person.”

At UMass Amherst there is no varsity volleyball team, but Laura has plans to continue playing intramural volleyball, where recreational sports are a big part of campus life. 

Head volleyball coach Bernie Chase said that he tried to recruit them both to come to play for the Lancers, but Laura seemed to have her mind made up on going to UMass Amherst. In fact, Chase said that when he was scouting them during the summer he had so much difficulty telling them apart, he wasn’t sure who was who because they were wearing the same uniform.

“The only way I was able to know was because Laura played up front as an outside hitter and Vicki played in the back row as a defensive specialist, “said Chase.

Vicki is apart of this year’s freshman class that includes Meg Brown and Shawna Strazzere. Through the team’s first nine games of the year, Brown is leading the team in kills and digs while Strazzere has the most assists as the starting setter. If you looked at the box scores, you wouldn’t notice the quiet impact that the first-year defensive specialist has had on the team. In her last three games, Vicki has averaged 12.6 digs coming off the bench.

“She is the first substitution I make at the start of a match,” said Chase. “She is athletic, a hustler and she’s got good foot speed. She brings a great positive attitude to practice and with her loud style of communication she has been a great addition.”

Vicki said that she really likes her teammates and she has high hopes for this season.

“Right now we are picking up on our errors and we have been trying to talk more about who has coverage on blocks and hits on defense,” said Vicki. “We are trying to learn from our mistakes and pick up on the little things.”

Playing at Worcester State has certainly been a change for Vicki who enjoyed the time that she spent in high school at Canton. Both sisters played volleyball in the fall and lacrosse in the spring; it was in the winter that Vicki played ice hockey while Laura was a basketball player.

Last season Vicki and her sister helped volleyball team captured their third consecutive Hockomock league title and the squad also earned the Eastern Massachusetts MIAA Sportsmanship Award. Vicki said that last years group of seniors that she played with was the same that played together on the JV squad when they came in as freshmen. Everyone was really best friends with one another.

Vicki said that there was this one time that they were playing another team on the road and a parent asked her coach, “Who is that O’Brien girl? She is everywhere on the floor!”

“That was when our coach said, ‘They are twins.’”, said Vicki with a laugh.

It was on April fools day of their junior and senior year that they decided to switch places with one another and see if they could mess up their friends and their teachers. According to Vicki, they were pretty successful.

“People just didn’t expect us to do it,” said Vicki. “I even made a presentation as my sister in her Psychology class on how to train a dog and I got a good grade, too. Laura almost had to present a reading that you had to memorize and she was saved by the bell by five minutes.”

At the end of each period the real twin would walk into the class and ask their teacher something in between classes. It was then that they would tell them the trick that they pulled.

“And almost every single teacher said every single time: ‘I knew it was a trick. I knew you weren’t the right twin!’” said Vicki. “Only two out of our 12 teachers knew it that we were playing a joke. Those two told us to go back to right class.”

Vicki mentioned that sometimes she doesn’t see the differences between them. She still sees the same person with the same hair and face. Sometimes they don’t even need a mirror to try on new clothes.

“After we go shopping sometimes, we will try on each others outfits to see how we look,” said Vicki.

It’s only in pictures that she can pick out the variations in their features.

Nearly everyone who was on her senior year team has moved on and they are attending different schools. Vicki said that she has friends from Canton who are everywhere. Several of her teammates have mentioned that they have friends who go to UMass and Laura has planned on coming to a couple of Vicki’s matches as well.

“We are close enough so that if we needed to, we can hang out with one another,” said Vicki. “Once the season is over we are going to spend a lot more time together.”

Winning It Their Way

It was an oldie, but a goodie as Backstreet Boys hit “I Want It That Way,” was clearly heard on Friday evening as I passed the women’s cross country team, on my way from the turf field back to my office in the gym. After a first place finish at the Jim Sheehan Invitational the chorus line had every reason to be ecstatic as they headed back up the hill to the dorms.

The Lancers opened the season with a big statement to the rest of the MASCAC as the squad captured 10 of the top 15 spots at their season opener.

Placing high for the Lancers was sophomore Erin Donohue, the meets runner up, followed by junior captain Maura Withington who added third, while second-year Brittany Grueter added fourth. Two freshmen, Kelsey Cartright and Alison Hickey, notched sixth and seventh, respectively.

“The girls should be proud of their win,” said head coach Mat Lemaire. “It was great to get out there and see what these girls can do.”

The win was the first for the program since they won the Jim Sheehan Classic in their first meet of the 2004 season. That year Olivia Patch, Julie Paradis and Lindsay Shields carried the team as they went on to place second at the MASCAC championships. They missed the earning title by nine points.

This year’s squad is young and if they stay healthy, they could challenge for their first ever conference championship.

Lemaire credited his veteran core with their strong work ethic in the offseason and his first-year players for running hard during practice throughout the last couple of weeks.

“Our upperclassmen showed they have done the work over the summer,” said Lemaire. “The freshmen contributed greatly to this win and they will continue to improve.”

The schedule gets harder now for the women as they head to the UMass Dartmouth Shriners Invitational on Saturday before hosting the Worcester City Meet the following week at Moore State Park. Last years meet in North Dartmouth saw 42 teams compete and WPI has taken home the last two city meets.

“This team does have a (long) way to go, but they are on the right path, said Lemaire.”

Old Faces, New Places - Working Hard and Coaching Hard

Paying dues can sometimes have its drawbacks, but pretty soon Chris Grautski knows he’s the one that’s going to reap the benefits.

Grautski, a 2008 graduate with his degree in Health Education, was a four-year starter and a two-time captain of the football team as a defensive lineman. He finished his career with 87 tackles (14.5 for a loss) and 7.5 sacks in 37 games and he was also distinguished on the All-Worcester Area team in his senior year.

Grautski enters his second year as a graduate assistant up at Fitchburg State working as the team’s strength and conditioning coordinator and the defensive line coach.

“I love it,” said Grautski. “I do work a lot of long hours, but right now I am trying to learn as much as I can. (Head Coach Paul McGonagle) is a great coach to work for. He has coaching experience at every level and I am also coaching with former Lancer Brian Doherty, who works with the tight ends and receivers.”

Coming right to Fitchburg State as a 23 year old kid was certainly a challenge, especially since some of the student-athletes on the team were a little older, but Grautski said he figured it out and he was able to make the right transition.

“As a new coach, the kids always try to test you,” said Grautski. “You can’t be their friend or anything like that. But being a captain for two years really helped out because you’re like a coach on the field and in a position of leadership.”

Grautski said that he came in and immediately made an impact on his defensive line group. He said that he was pretty excited that after his seniors graduated last season, he has the chance to shape the incoming first-year players.

“The season before I came in the players on the defensive line really didn’t have the right technique down,” said Grautski. “The new players are all young pups, so I hope that we can be a bright spot on the defensive line with all three of our linebackers returning and three of our four defensive backs coming back.”

As the strength and conditioning coach his number one priority is to try to prevent injuries. Grautski felt that instead of having an optional lifting session, he decided that it would be a better idea to lift twice a week.

“While our weight room isn’t the biggest, I have four groups lift on Mondays and Wednesdays,” said Grautski. “As a result, I have noticed that the most common injuries to shoulders, knees and ankles are down and the guys are a little bit stronger.”

Last season Grautski made his first visit as a coach of the Falcons before a sparse crowd in what was a rain filled afternoon. He was disappointed that they lost the game, but he was still happy that his alma mater didn’t finish the season winless either.

His goal is to be a full-time football coach. During the summer he worked five different camps to meet people and get his name out there. Before he got the job at Fitchburg State he also an intern as an undergraduate at Holy Cross.

“I am pursuing my master’s degree in Management and Leadership,” said Grautski. “I hope that maybe some day I can be a health teacher, an athletic director or a principal.”

After losing their first two games to UMass Dartmouth and Curry, the Falcons will look to bounce back this week against Endicott. The schedule doesn’t get any easier as Fitchburg State opens NEFC Bogan Division play with defending champ Maine Maritime.

But Grautski seems to think that it’s a wide open race in the division this year. He’ll get to see if his prediction holds true when the Falcons come to Worcester State on homecoming on October 30 in week nine.

Bits and Bites

The football team lost a heartbreaker on Saturday to cross town rival WPI. As the Lancers held a 20-3 lead midway though the third quarter, the Engineers held Worcester State to just seven yards off offense to knot the game 20-20 on a last-second field goal. The Boynton Hillers would go on to win 27-20 in the first overtime as the defense came up in the clutch with a big goal-line stand. WSU opened the contest with a four-yard TD junior Tony Tokarz run, an 11 yard touchdown reception by classmate Kenny Russell and 66-yard touchdown scamper by third-year Marcus Price. Senior Tyler Russell also racked up a game-best 20 tackles (10 solo) to pace the defensive effort. The football team will take the gridiron again on Friday night at Nichols in the squad’s final non-conference contest.

The field hockey team earned their first win of the season in a 2-0 triumph over Westfield State on Saturday as they upped their record to 1-3. The win over the Owls was their first since 2002. Junior Samantha Janda came though in the clutch for the Lancers as she netted the game-winning goal eight minutes into the contest and she also added a helper on the insurance goal. The women who wield the sticks look to even up their record with a home date against Anna Maria on Thursday and an away game at Fitchburg State.

Both soccer teams went 1-1 this last week. The men lost to St. Joseph’s of Maine 1-0 before they defeated Southern Maine 3-0. In the win against the Huskies, junior Justin Biela helped sparked the effort as he recorded the match clinching marker along with an assist. The women started off the week with a 2-1 victory over MIT as junior Sarah Rafferty and freshman Gaby Gonet each recorded tallies in the win. The ladies ended the weekend with a 1-0 overtime setback to Clark.

In the next week, the men’s soccer team will take on Trinity in Hartford, Connecticut on Tuesday before they open up MASCAC play at home against MCLA. The women’s soccer team has a two game road trip in the next week when they take on WPI on Wednesday before traveling to North Adams to face the Trailblazers on Saturday.

Senior Courteney Blais helped power the women’s tennis team in a 1-1 week as they lost to Plymouth State, 6-3, and earned a Saturday afternoon 6-3 win against Rhode Island College. Blais went 4-0 as she won twice at third singles and at both second and first doubles. Freshman Brooke Michanczyk also went 2-0 at sixth singles. The tennis team heads to Becker on Monday and will host Salem State on Thursday in LEC action.

Freshman teammates Meg Brown and Shawna Strazzere shined once again as the womens volleyball team had a 1-2 week. The Lancers started things off with a 3-0 win at Simmons on Thursday before they dropped a 3-0 setback to WPI and a 3-1 loss to Assumption at the Worcester City Tournament. In three games Brown averaged 6.3 kills, 20 digs which included an 11 kills and 16 dig performance against Simmons and a 31 dig effort against the Greyhounds. Strazzere averaged 16 assists and six digs.

After an away contest at Anna Maria on Thursday, the volleyball team heads north to Southern Maine for a tri match with the Huskies and UMass Dartmouth on Saturday.

The men’s cross country team started off their season with a solid third place finish at the Jim Sheehan Invitational. Freshman Devlin Crawford timed seventh with a time of 26:43 while sophomore Tim Mazeika registered ninth for a top 10 finish. Next week they head to UMass Dartmouth.

The golf team will begin their 2010 campaign at the two-day Middlebury Invitational this weekend at Middlebury’s Ralph Myhre par 72 course.